by D A Lavizzo

Created on: August 15, 2008

In a few short months, over ten million people around the globe will finally be able to experience the moment they have all been waiting for - coming face to face with the dreaded Lich King himself in the frozen wastes of Northrend. Arthas, both the hero and villain of Warcraft III games, makes his first appearance in World of Warcraft in the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

Arguably, one of the most anticipated developments in WOTLK is the addition of the first new class since the game launched - the Death Knight hero class. Fans will remember that Arthas himself was transformed into a Death Knight when he tried to claim the cursed rune-blade Frostmourne as his own during the events of Warcraft III.

If you've been reading the hype - believe it. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the public beta playing a Death Knight, and let me tell you, they are power incarnate. Firstly, they are the only player class that is able to disease their target - in fact, many of their skills and abilities rely on the target being diseased to add damage or effects.

Death Knights have three spheres of power - Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Each of these is powerful in it's own right - Blood seems to be designed for straight-up, no questions asked damage dealing, Frost seems more designed for longevity and tanking, and Unholy is more of a utility and off-damage spec. However, Death Knights are designed from the ground up to do one thing - kill everything in their path. Death Knights also have the unique ability to summon a mob to them - rather than charge an enemy and tank it on spot, the Death Knight calls on unholy power to pull the enemy to himself. He can then use Chains of Ice - a root and snare with no cooldown - to ensure that his enemy stays put to take everything the Death Knight has to dish out.

Death Knights also have a number of abilities that ensure they are effective tanks - Pestilence is one such ability. After diseasing a single target, the Death Knight calls on the power of Blood to spread that disease to other targets, generating threat in the process. Then he or she can perform a Blood Boil, consuming the disease effects for lots of explosive damage, and even more threat. Rinse, repeat, and you have the makings of one awesome tanking class.

Death Knights are also masters of the undead. Every Death Knight can summon an undead companion from a downed enemy and control it for a limited time - Unholy specced Death Knights, however, can keep the resulting ghoul indefinitely and control it as though it were a pet.

As if all of this wasn't enough, Blizzard also introduced a completely new mechanic - Runeforging. Runeforging allows Death Knights to imbue their weapon or weapons with a specific rune, which functions like an enchantment. These Runeforges grant abilities like increased damage and stun chance to undead, an innate 4% spell resistance, or at the highest levels, a chance to increase strength by 30% and heal for 4% of your total life on every swing.

All in all, the Death Knight class definitely lives up to it's "heroic" moniker. Between innate abilities, the exciting talent trees, and the fact that they can both wear plate and dual wield a variety of high-damage weapons, Death Knights are poised to change the game as we know it.

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